San Francisco Opera Presents Inaugural Pride Concert June 27 Hosted by Monét X Change
MUSIC DIRECTOR EUN SUN KIM AND ROBERT MOLLICONE CONDUCT SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ORCHESTRA WITH SOLOISTS JAMIE BARTON, BRIAN MULLIGAN, NIKOLA PRINTZ
Monét X Change, Eun Sun Kim, Robert Mollicone, Jamie Barton, Brian Mulligan, Nikola Printz
Photos: Lindsey Ruth, Cody Pickens, Devlin Shand, Stacey Bode, Dario Acosta, Destiny Grace
POST-PERFORMANCE DANCE PARTY WITH DJ JUANITA MORE!
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA MARCHES AT 55TH SF PRIDE PARADE JUNE 29
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 22, 2025) — Coinciding with San Francisco’s annual Pride Weekend, San Francisco Opera celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community with a special Pride Concert featuring immersive projections and a post-show dance party on Friday, June 27 at the War Memorial Opera House. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season Four winner and classically trained singer Monét X Change hosts the concert. San Francisco Opera’s Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim and Robert Mollicone lead the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and soloists Jamie Barton, Brian Mulligan and Nikola Printz. Tal Rosner’s video designs fill the hall. and Justin A. Partier is the night’s lighting designer. Concluding San Francisco’s Pride Weekend, on Sunday, June 29, the Company joins other local arts institutions to march in the 55th Annual San Francisco Pride Parade.
The musical programming for the Pride Concert features works by opera composers, including Leonard Bernstein, Jake Heggie, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Camille Saint-Saëns; songs from screen and stage, such as A Star Is Born (1954), Mame and La Cage aux Folles; and folk, pop, jazz and disco tunes by Indigo Girls, Freddie Mercury and Melissa Etheridge, among others.
Music Director Eun Sun Kim, who also leads this summer’s production of Mozart’s Idomeneo (June 14-25), will kick off the concert with the Overture to Leonard Bernstein’s Candide before handing the baton to Maestro Robert Mollicone to conduct the remainder of the program. The multihyphenate artist, comedian and podcast host Monét X Change, who has previously performed at Colorado Opera, Minnesota Opera and New Jersey Symphony and Lincoln Center, emcees the celebration of LGBTQIA+ pride.
Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton returns to the opera house where she has performed in productions of Norma, Wagner’s Ring cycle, Roberto Devereux and Rusalka. When Barton headlined the Last Night of the BBC Proms in 2019 and waved a Pride flag, conductor Sakari Oramo shared with BBC Music, “there was a wave of love and acceptance and appreciation.” Barton shares stories about this moment and her queer identity as part of San Francisco Opera’s Webby Award-winning digital portrait series in the episode titled In Song: Jamie Barton. The Grammy-nominated and Richard Tucker Award-winning artist’s social media presence serves as a hub for conversations about body positivity, social justice issues and LGBTQ+ rights. This fall Jamie Barton returns to San Francisco Opera as Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s Dead Man Walking.
In demand at top opera houses and concert stages around the world, baritone Brian Mulligan’s engagements with the Company have ranged from works by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss to 20th-century classics, such as Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and John Adams’ Nixon in China. Of his most recent San Francisco appearance as Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin (a production that is the subject of the NorCal Emmy award-nominated film Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin) San Francisco Classical Voice exclaimed, “You will not hear this role better sung, from Mulligan’s tonal beauty to his scrupulous legato and exemplary diction.” Mulligan will return to the Bay Area this fall as Amfortas for San Francisco Opera’s new production of Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal.
When they were in the Merola Opera Program in 2022, Oakland artist Nikola Printz curated an “extraordinary” (San Francisco Chronicle) vocal recital for the Schwabacher Recital Series that was a love letter to all forms of gender expression. For three years the aerialist and singer has been a part of San Francisco Symphony’s Holiday Gaiety variety show. On the opera stage, Printz recently portrayed the title role of Bizet’s Carmen in San Francisco Opera’s immersive opera-meets-party Encounter series, as well as with Festival Opera and Opera San José. They created the role of Billie Jean King in the world premiere of Laura Karpman’s Balls for Opera Parallèle and was the alto soloist in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with San Francisco Ballet and Vallejo Symphony.
(photos: Reneff-Olson Productions, Kristen Loken, Drew Altizer Photography)
Pride Concert Event Highlights:
- Pre-show Happy Hour with discounted food and drinks
- Interactive Altar of Remembrance by the Marigold Project
- LGBTQIA+ Historical Exhibit by the GLBT Historical Society
- Sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt display by the National AIDS Memorial
- Pre-show discussion with Suzanne Ford, executive director of SF Pride
- Concert with soloists Jamie Barton, Brian Mulligan and Nikola Printz
- Post-show dance party with DJ Juanita MORE!
From 6:30–7:30 p.m., visit the Altar of Remembrance at the top of the Van Ness Ave. steps and community displays by the GLBT Historical Society and National AIDS Memorial on the Grand Tier level. Concessions will offer a pre-show happy hour with discounted food and drink options. At 6:35 p.m. ticketholders are invited to a pre-concert talk by SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford. The 80-minute concert, hosted by Monét X Change, begins at 7:30 p.m. and features soloists Jamie Barton, Brian Mulligan and Nikola Printz, with Eun Sun Kim and Robert Mollicone conducting the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. The show is followed by a dance party with DJ Juanita MORE! Community partners for the event include SF Pride, The Tenderloin Museum, National AIDS Memorial, Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, Marigold Project, GLBT Historical Society and Twin Peaks Tavern. For more information, visit: sfopera.com/pride.
Pride Concert concludes the mainstage events of San Francisco Opera’s 2025 Summer Season. The season opens June 3 with Puccini’s La Bohème (June 3–21) and includes Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducting Mozart’s Idomeneo (June 14–25). For more information, visit sfopera.com.
SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE PARADE
Sunday, June 29 at 10:30 a.m.
Market Street from Beale Street to 8th Street in San Francisco
San Francisco Pride Parade 2024 (photo: Reneff-Olson Productions)
On Sunday, June 29, cheer on members of San Francisco Opera and other arts organizations at the 55th annual San Francisco Pride Parade, one of the oldest celebrations of LGBTQIA+ identity in the world. For more information about the 55th San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration, visit sfpride.org.
*For the complete press release, open the PDF version above.